Most of the abolitionists weren't against slavery because they thought it was cruel and evil. They were against slavery because it made white people's labor less valuable.

A lot of big slave owners would import a European artisan [blacksmith, carpenter, glazier, etc.] and pay them to work and to train slaves to do the job. When the craftsman went home, the slave master would hire out his laves at a fraction of what a free man would charge for the same work.

Women in America only got the vote after they'd proved they could be relied on to go into the factories and take up the slack when the men went to war.

Most progress doesn't come from noble asperations.